So today I fulfilled my civic duty by standing by for jury duty all day. This is only the second time I have been summoned since living in California (1991). Was not selected to even sit in the box to be questioned but did get to sit in the courtroom watching the jury selection process. Quite interesting really. Not only the questions asked of each potential juror but also the variety of folks who are summoned. The group was definitely a microcosm of society as a whole. Some of the folks really impressed me with there thoughtfulness and their desire to do the right thing. These folks seemed to truly want to do the right thing and give the individual a fair trial. Then, of course, there was the folks on the other end of the spectrum. I would hate to have any of these folks sitting on any jury that would be judging me. Fortunately, the folks that probably didn't represent the best and the brightest were excused by the attorneys. It really was an interesting process. Wow....
11 hours ago
4 comments:
Ha, I have jury duty this THU.
The last time I was called in, I got to sit in a jury seat for 1 day before being "excused" by the defense because one of my close friends is a COP.
This lady next to me also got "excused" by the prosecution when she said that she was a Christian and believed that only Jesus should judge. More than anything, I think she wanted to get back to work!
We had a few of those too...Not Christian but those who just wanted to get out of there.
Now that they have your name on their list, you can expect to get another summons in exactly 24 months. We always get ours, right on time.
I've gotten at least six jury summons since moving to California seven years ago, but I usually get a hardship exemption because my employer doesn't pay anything toward jury duty. Note to California: If you want more people to serve on juries, make sure that doing so won't cause them to miss their mortgage payments.
I was on a jury once in New York. It was ... interesting.
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